With over 35,000 hot pot restaurants in Sichuan and Chongqing, the hot pot track has long been a sea of blood.
At the height of the fierce battle in the Sichuan-Chongqing hot pot market, a dark horse is coming into view.
"Shu Hero’s Stir-fried Hot Pot" was born in May 2022. During the epidemic period, it only took more than 10 days to occupy Chengdu Hot Pot Popularity List NO.1 and Chengdu Hot Pot Collection List TOP1. In May this year, it also won the title of quality hot pot issued by China Hotel Association.
In the past two years, the hot pot track has been particularly involuted and homogenized, especially in the "hot pot capital" of Sichuan and Chongqing, where "door-to-door" and "shop-to-shop" competitions have already been staged. It is not easy for new brands to stand out in this red sea.
Why did you create a new brand during the epidemic? How did Shu heroes come into being and emerge? What are the deep meanings of its breakthrough for the trillion hot pot track?
With questions, Hongcan. com had an in-depth interview with Wang Jie, co-founder of "Shu Hero Stir-fried Hot Pot".
The dark horse hot pot brand born in the epidemic,
Open up a new world with three differences
"The epidemic will affect some consumer behaviors, but it does not mean that there is no consumer behavior. Catering to the new needs of consumers and opening consumers’ minds with differentiated positioning is a key breakthrough for a new brand. " Wang Jie replied without thinking.
Before the establishment of Shu Hero, Wang Jie was an operational executive of Shu Hero and a catering veteran who had been immersed in the catering market for nearly 20 years. In its view, there is no such thing as a secret in catering, and it must be carried out around the needs of customers.
Wang Jie has an insight that after the epidemic, consumers’ requirements for catering are not only cost-effective, but also value-added, as well as taste. At the same time, they also pursue emotional value and have their own image labels and cultural circles. Therefore, Shu heroes began to build brands around the above simple needs.
In terms of cultural atmosphere and decoration style, create a grounded Shu cultural community style.
Considering that people’s desire for fireworks intensified during the epidemic, the hero of Shu chose red lanterns and bamboo stools in the decoration style, and the store also mixed many elements of national tide and dilapidated alleys and markets, one scene at a time, one scene at a time and one story at a time, as if he were in a street shop in Chengdu in the 1980 s, and the fireworks were full. Every place can be a photo punching place.
In cultural rendering, from the brand name to the slogan in the store, there is a profound heroic culture atmosphere.
When the heroes of Shu were born, they were in the difficult period of the epidemic. The words "Everyone is a hero in life" and "Who says that standing in the light is a hero" in the store not only expressed the heroic culture that the brand insisted on, but also had metaphors to praise those heroes in life who were not defeated by setbacks in the post-epidemic era.
In terms of positioning, we insist on frying in the bottom of the pot, insisting on handmade dishes, and enhancing the sense of value.
Hot pot is a highly standardized category, which is also a necessary condition for hot pot to achieve scale effect. Shu heroes choose to do the opposite.
For example, at the bottom of the pot, in the hero of Shu, the bottom of the pot must be fried by a special frying master after the guest places an order, which not only shows its insistence on using only disposable bottom of the pot, but also increases the trust of consumers, and at the same time forms a differentiated division from other Sichuan-Chongqing hot pot brands.
Another example is dishes, which adhere to the strategy of "handmade dishes" with fresh ingredients and innovative technology.
Take the ingredients as an example. All the ingredients of Shu Hero are high-quality ingredients from all over the country. For example, the beef omasum is airlifted from Xinjiang, which is more than 3,000 kilometers away, to ensure the freshness of the ingredients, while the duck sausage is less than two kilograms, which makes the taste more fresh and crisp.
The quality has improved, but the price has not. The per capita unit price of Shu heroes is around 80 yuan, focusing on the middle price band. However, through the way of frying the bottom of the pot and making the products now, consumers can enjoy a higher quality meal with less money, thus effectively improving the repurchase rate.
At the level of products and services, based on different consumer groups, we will launch "customized" warm-hearted services.
Shu Hero’s first store opened in the community, and community stores and shopping center stores now have completely different business logic. For example, shopping malls, products and decoration styles should have a female thinking; On the basis of women’s thinking, the community should also consider the needs of the elderly and children, such as the price should be close to the people, the service should be true, the products should cover men, women and children, and the spicy degree should be controlled freely.
In terms of products, young people pursue delicious food, cost performance and atmosphere, while children pursue health, sanitation and less additives, while old people want to be fresh and clean, low in fat, sugar and oil, etc. Shu Hero has launched a combination boxing of large dishes, middle dishes, small dishes and palace dishes.
In terms of value-added services, Shu hero set up a children’s play area at the door of the store; When an elderly person comes to dinner, the waiter will ask if he needs a cushion or yogurt.
"Our goal is to strive for every family dinner. Not only young people can eat and drink, but also the elderly can feel enthusiasm and respect. Children have food and play, and they will be willing to come again next time." Wang Jie said.
All the growth under the contrarian trend has never come from the entrepreneurs themselves, but the brand has made meaningful and groundbreaking value creation based on the trend. The hero of Shu just did such a meaningful and valuable thing.
Returning to the catering itself, taking consumers as the origin, through the culture of instant frying, hero culture and handmade dishes, Shu hero won a group of Chengdu people who were very picky about hot pot at the beginning, gained a good reputation, and resisted the impact of the epidemic on the catering industry, and played a new world in the hot pot market.
Up to now, Shu Hero has nearly 100 contracted stores around the world, and more than 50 have opened before the end of October. The first overseas store in Barcelona will officially open in December.
The hero of Shu, who was founded just over a year ago, is becoming a dark horse.
A new brand,
How to find your own foundation in the hot pot capital?
According to enterprise survey data, there are 76,000 existing hot pot stores in top10 cities in China, of which Chengdu and Chongqing have a total of over 35,000, accounting for 46%. It is a veritable "hot pot capital", and many global hot pot chain brands have run out here. It takes courage, strength and strategy to make hot pot in Sichuan and Chongqing, where the market competition is fierce.
First of all, the founding team of Shu Hero has gathered outstanding talents from all major fields and has strong resource integration ability.
For example, Wang Jie entered the catering industry after graduating from a well-known university in 2006. After years of precipitation, he has a deeper insight into Sichuan-Chongqing hot pot.
Feng Honglu, the head of product research and development of Shu Hero, has 22 years’ experience in product research and development, and has served well-known chain restaurants such as Yu Xiaolong Kan and Shu Daxia, and all the explosives such as "Hua Qiangu" and "Rose on the Tip of the Tongue" owned by Shu Daxia were created by him.
According to an insider, there is a well-funded and resource-rich catering consortium behind the hero of Shu.
Secondly, in addition to "people, money and resources", there must be a correct steering direction.
There is never a shortage of new players in the hot pot track. Many entrepreneurs come in, but more of them are washed out. According to the data of enterprise investigation, the number of enterprises in the hot pot market cancelled in 2022 was 16,339, and by the end of October this year, the number of enterprises in the hot pot market cancelled in 2023 was as high as 28,698, 1.75 times that of last year, which means that the hot pot market this year is even more difficult.
As a new brand, how to survive in the fierce market competition and maintain long-term combat effectiveness?
In the past ten years, Wang Jie has witnessed the life and death of too many brands. He admits that in Chengdu hot pot market, only one of the 100 entrepreneurial brands can survive. If you want to be the only one who survives, you must give consumers and partners the reason to choose you. In the past year, all the actions of Shu heroes have been adjusted based on the market environment, industry competition situation and changes in consumer demand.
1. Strengthen brand branding and lock in the "Hot Pot" track.
Years of catering experience tells Wang Jie that it is very important to be a brand with its own positioning and branding, which can be remembered by consumers. At first, the heroes of Shu went out of the circle by street vendors, but from a cognitive point of view, it is difficult for consumers to equate street vendors with a certain brand.
On the one hand, the differentiation between stall brands and stores in the market is not obvious, and the bargaining power is not strong; On the other hand, even in the sinking market, consumers have higher requirements for environmental experience. When the customer’s freshness is over, whether the hot pot stalls can be repurchased becomes a big problem.
The most well-known fresh beef, hairy belly, duck blood, etc. in hot pot have already been made by brands, and it is not difficult to take products as a breakthrough. The bottom of the pot is the soul of eating hot pot, and it is also an important starting point for brands to differentiate themselves and establish competitive barriers. After much deliberation, Wang Jie decided to start from the bottom of the pot and lock the hero of Shu in the concept of fried hot pot.
"On the one hand, the hot pot is topical and different, and at the beginning of its establishment, the hero of Shu has taken the form of frying at the bottom of the pot, and the feedback from consumers is also very good. On the other hand, the ingredients such as ginger, garlic, pepper and pepper at the bottom of the pot are more fragrant and taste better than those cooked in the traditional cold pot through the high temperature of oil. " Wang Jie explained.
2. Focus on the small store model and accelerate the expansion from point to area.
At present, scale is still the key factor to open the popularity of hot pot brands.
In the past, hot pot restaurants were mostly large stores with an area of several hundred square meters or even nearly a kilometer. They were heavily decorated and invested, and the investment was millions. However, after the epidemic, the small shop model with light investment and low risk has become the first choice for entrepreneurs, and it is small and refined, small and specialized, better site selection and easier to copy.
Shu Hero’s store model is very clear, with 200-300 square meters as the main area, which reduces the decoration cost, rental cost and labor cost.
Wang Jie calculated such an account. The cooperation cost of a single store of Shu Hero brand only needs tens of thousands. If a store of about 200 square meters is opened in a non-first-tier city, the total investment of cooperation fee, decoration, rent, equipment and the first batch of materials can be controlled between 500,000 and 600,000. Relatively speaking, the total investment of investors in opening a big store before can open several Shu heroes.
In the site selection, Shu Hero will give priority to the community. On the one hand, the rent in the community is cheaper, the business hours are long and relatively free, and the community store is a neighborhood business. As long as the customer’s reputation is good, the business will not be too bad. On the other hand, the small competition in the community also gives a brand-new brand more space and lower cost to try and make mistakes.
3. The survival rate and profitability of a single store are the key links to ensure the steady development of the brand.
At the moment of fierce competition in hot pot, scale is important, but it is also very important to ensure the survival rate and profitability of stores. Shu hero’s approach is to send a special person to visit the site for free before opening the store, do a good job in location evaluation, and improve the survival rate and profitability of the cooperative store from the first step.
When the store opens, the headquarters will assign the old store manager and chef with more than 10 years’ working experience to the local area to prepare for the opening for free, and launch marketing plans for stores in different regions. The headquarters will also give the store a large subsidy for marketing expenses, so that the store can quickly open its popularity in the local area.
In addition, in March, June, September and December of each year, the headquarters will also send a professional team to make a nationwide tour of stores, conduct a unified inspection of food safety, teach new products, empower stores, and at the same time make a professional analysis according to the competitive situation around stores, and adjust strategies to keep the cooperative stores competitive for a long time in their regions.
Hongcan. com understands that although Shu Hero has only opened more than 50 stores at present, there are more than a dozen full-time teams sent abroad to provide a series of services such as site selection, preparation and human assistance for cooperative stores.
Generally speaking, the heroes of Shu have achieved good results in just over a year, which is not a coincidence, but more a well-thought-out accumulation.
Author’s notes
As the king of Chinese food, hot pot has always been regarded as a vast track and a good business to make money, attracting a large number of entrepreneurs.
However, in the past three years, the falling feathers of the epidemic black swan have forced countless hot pot people to become a small dust in the butterfly effect, and many brands have been forced to close their stores and stop losses, even disappearing into public view.
However, we have also seen the tenacity and unyielding of many hot pot people. On the one hand, even the big names in the industry, under the hole of losses, actively change their policies and adjust their directions according to the current situation; On the other hand, some innovative brands and rising stars have also found business opportunities in the crisis, injecting new business opportunities and vitality into the hot pot industry.
Shu hero fried hot pot now is the latter, which rose against the trend under the epidemic situation and created a differentiated track with fried now.
However, at present, the trillion-dollar hot pot track is still full of twists and turns, and there is never a shortage of new players in the market. We will wait and see what kind of Sina flowers Shu heroes can inspire in this field in the future.
Author: Red Meal Network Zhou Hongchu
Note: This article belongs to the catering industry information published by Yangguang. com. The content of this article does not represent the views of this website, and is for reference only.
